Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

I am new to detecting, and the Ace 250 is my first unit. Before taking it in the field yesterday for the first time, I studied the manual, reviewed the the instructional DVD several times - doing dry run practices and "setting" the unit's modes for a beginner per recommendations.

Before actually starting in the area that I chose to start scanning ( a desolate zone where a 1920's dance hall and tavern existed - all buildings removed and left to grow in with nothing else on the land for 27 years,) I placed a penny, dime, nickel and quarter on the ground about four feet apart to check the reactions of my unit. It identified each coin's value. Okay - everything is working according to my settings per instructions sensitivity, mode, etc. Time to try it for real.

I pinpointed areas showing only a variety of coin denominations 2"-6" down on my read outs. When I dug and sifted at those depths, I found no coins. But, I did uncover a variety of metallic debris objects - pieces of broken pipe/ conduit, steel, copper and aluminum, nails, nuts and bolts, and bottle caps.

Even though my detector's read out showed an individual coin present, without jumping all over the place showing the objects that I did in fact find, is it possible that my unit was so confused that it elected to settle for a "coin?"

Any thoughts on what I may have missed, or just was not paying attention to during the excitement of it all? I am too inexperienced to troubleshoot this, or playing around with advanced settings beyond my ability at this juncture. I am not the least bit discouraged, just a little frustrated.

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

Pinpointing with the ACE is the most difficult thing for ya to learn. It usually pinpoints just inside the front of the inner loop. There are many posts on this topic and Garrett also has a video on their website. The other thing to remember is the pinpoint mode is "all-metal mode" and it will pick up anything. So maybe there was a coin but when you pinpointed it led you to a different target. Keep practicing and you'll get it, the ACE is a good little machine that loves coins!!!!

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

Greg and Terra, Thanks to you both for you comments. Like anything else one wants to learn and get good at, practice, practice and more practice is the only way to get there.

Terra, The video is the same instructional one that I had mentioned and reviewed many times before going outside with my unit. Quite an excellent production. Is there a link to that DVD video that you could send to me to bookmark? Would save some time physically loading each time I wanted to look at it again.

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

Being a newby and new to the forum, first let me say welcome and you are soon going to become addicted and more than likely will be spending the rest of your life treasure hunting! A proven fact. And if no one else has, let me be the first to give you another truism. You will dig a lot of trash to find a few goodies. Trash, trash, trash, there's no way to avoid it. It takes a really experienced detectorist to be able to fine tune their skills well enough to avoid much trash. Even the most expensive detectors misidentify trash at times. Unfortunately a lot of trashy items emit the same profile to a detector. Gold may be the hardest of all to identify as it often is shown to be trash on a detector. It's signature can fool even the best. The Ace is a very good little machine and has proved itself time after time here on T-net. Now it's up to you to develop and refine your skills. You won't be disappointed. That next signal just might be that diamond ring or rare coin you were hoping to find. Monty

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

you said it practice,practice!!! in coin mode it might get confusing it may go dime then iron and you will only here one side of it. run in all metal,in a trashy area it will go nuts but listen for that bell coin sound the sound you heard when practicing the coins when you here that bell sound locate the target(small swings over target with bell sound bothways) if it's bouncy coin tab it's pull tab,coin iron it's nail,coin foil it's trash,if it's coin coin step to the side and try again over target if you are still getting a solid signal both ways pinpoint it and after a little practice you'll be be able to tell how big the target is,in pinpoint mode that's were i look at the depth to determine how deep to dig and how big of a plug to dig!! the reason for the step to the side (the tip of a nail will ring in as a coin when you step to the side the ace will now see the iron of the nail not the tip)always circle your target to determine what it is!!!!!! if it's a coin you will not get a bouncy signal (coin tab foil etc.) here's some pointers and may not be perfect just off the top of my head.
iron=iron,trash
foil=foil,trash,some say gold but haven't seen it yet!!
5c=nickel,gold,small square tabs,small aluminum pieces,gum wrapper,tail of a pull tab,trash etc.
tab= gold, trash, pull tab,but usually round pull tabs with tail bounce tab dime penny
1c=penny,copper wire,trash etc.note there is two notches for penny's older Indians will fall in the first notch
dime= bigger aluminum pieces,trash,dimes, silver, and don't know why but penny's,bigger deep iron
quarter=quarters,silver,bottlecaps,trash
half=half or similar size token etc.trash
all silver will ring bell tone solid except for silver nickels but may dance in coin range!!!
hope this helps!!! but to really learn the machine you'll have to dig all these signals and learn your machine(next tab,dime,tab,dime signal you get circle it, pinpoint it,see how deep it is and dig it and learn it!!!!and like monty said to find the goodies you'll have to dig trash!!!

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

the TIDs "nickel" "penny/dime" "quarter", etc.. on ANY detector are merely a reading of conductivity. Unfortunately, many junk items will share the same conductivity as various coins. So for example, a beaver tail off of a pulltab may read right on nickel. Or a copper washer may read exactly like quarter. Or a squashed screwcap may read right like a zinc. penny. Etc.. Etc... With a little practice, you can get ...... on some machines .... to make some educated guesses and pass some surface trash items. Depends on the type hunt environment, if you want to get a little picky or not.

Re: Garrett Ace 250 Usage ?

Originally Posted by Jonathan65

I am new to detecting, and the Ace 250 is my first unit. Before taking it in the field yesterday for the first time, I studied the manual, reviewed the the instructional DVD several times - doing dry run practices and "setting" the unit's modes for a beginner per recommendations.

Before actually starting in the area that I chose to start scanning ( a desolate zone where a 1920's dance hall and tavern existed - all buildings removed and left to grow in with nothing else on the land for 27 years,) I placed a penny, dime, nickel and quarter on the ground about four feet apart to check the reactions of my unit. It identified each coin's value. Okay - everything is working according to my settings per instructions sensitivity, mode, etc. Time to try it for real.

I pinpointed areas showing only a variety of coin denominations 2"-6" down on my read outs. When I dug and sifted at those depths, I found no coins. But, I did uncover a variety of metallic debris objects - pieces of broken pipe/ conduit, steel, copper and aluminum, nails, nuts and bolts, and bottle caps.

Even though my detector's read out showed an individual coin present, without jumping all over the place showing the objects that I did in fact find, is it possible that my unit was so confused that it elected to settle for a "coin?"

Any thoughts on what I may have missed, or just was not paying attention to during the excitement of it all? I am too inexperienced to troubleshoot this, or playing around with advanced settings beyond my ability at this juncture. I am not the least bit discouraged, just a little frustrated.

Your comments are more than most welcome.

Regards,The best advice i can give is to search thru the forum for Ace 250 tips and tricks.Everyday i read something else i did or didnt know about.You will have to look around quite a bit but its worth its weight in gold.I also have the Ace 250 and im up to about 60-70 hours into using it.They say 100 hours is actually needed to fully understand your machine and the closer i get to that goal the more i understand the importance of it.Happy hunting and good luck